astrophysics CHRISTOPHE GALFARD from galileo to newton, from einstein to hawking, from the big bang to the big bounce and a crossfire of competing mathematical theories, astrophysics never stops changing our understanding of the universe. the more we know, the more questions we have interview by OLIVIER ZAHM all pictures by THE HUBBLE SPACE TELESCOPE OLIVIER ZAHM — Let’s begin with this idea of a contemporary renaissance. Do you agree that in the past 20 years or so, we’ve been living through a period of great discoveries in our decipherment of the starry sky, with its dizzying temporal depths and what appears to be its expansion? CHRISTOPHE GALFARD — Science is going down two paths simultaneously. There is theoretical research, and there’s technological, experimental innovation, which entails the manufacture of devices and tools that have never existed — so that we can observe or verify something that we’ve never seen….